George's only child, Dhani, is 31, and looks hauntingly like his father:
Thursday, February 25, 2010
Happy Birthday, George!
Had he not succumbed to cancer in 2001, today would have been George Harrison's 67th birthday. Here's George on his 21st, just after returning from the triumphal series of appearances on the Ed Sullivan Show:
George's only child, Dhani, is 31, and looks hauntingly like his father:
George's only child, Dhani, is 31, and looks hauntingly like his father:
Tuesday, February 16, 2010
Abbey Road Studios for Sale
The Beatles' original record company, EMI, has put its Abbey Road Studios up for sale:
I've been to London almost every summer since 2000, and always make a pilgrimage to the famous zebra crossing, site of one of the most iconic and frequently parodied photos in world history:
Every time I've been to Abbey Road--night or day, rain or shine--there have been at least a dozen other Beatlemaniacs there, some trying to replicate the famous image (putting their lives and limbs at risk: it's a busy street).
Abbey Road Studios has set up a webcam on the other side of the zebra crossing. The photo was taken from a spot just to the right of the granite column in the upper left of the webcam image.
The record label of Norah Jones and Coldplay has spoken to potential buyers during the past few months and talks have not led to a solid offer, said the person, who didn’t want to be identified because the talks are private. The studios are worth tens of millions of pounds and are not an essential asset for EMI, the person said.
EMI, owned by Guy Hands’s Terra Firma Capital Partners Ltd., this month posted a 1.5 billion-pound ($2.35 billion) annual loss and said its liabilities exceeded assets by 408 million pounds as of March 31, 2009. Terra Firma may inject as much as 120 million pounds into EMI to prevent the London-based music company from breaching debt levels, two people familiar with the matter have said.
The Beatles recorded 90 percent of their songs at the studios, which are the world’s oldest, according to the Abbey Road Web site.
I've been to London almost every summer since 2000, and always make a pilgrimage to the famous zebra crossing, site of one of the most iconic and frequently parodied photos in world history:
Every time I've been to Abbey Road--night or day, rain or shine--there have been at least a dozen other Beatlemaniacs there, some trying to replicate the famous image (putting their lives and limbs at risk: it's a busy street).
Abbey Road Studios has set up a webcam on the other side of the zebra crossing. The photo was taken from a spot just to the right of the granite column in the upper left of the webcam image.
Friday, February 12, 2010
My Fifteen Minutes of Fame (well, really, 2 1/2 minutes)
My employer made this video--shown on the local ABC affiliate--about me and my book, The Long and Winding Road from Blake to the Beatles:
Tuesday, February 9, 2010
February 9 in Context
A must-have for Beatlemaniacs is The Complete Historic Ed Sullivan Shows featuring the Beatles and other Artists. Everyone's seen the Beatles break into "All My Loving" after Sullivan's intro is drowned out by screams. But to appreciate how genuinely revolutionary the Beatles were, you need to see them in the show business context of their time. This DVD includes everything--even commercials for Lipton tea and Excedrin--but most important, it illustrates what show business was like in 1964, and how different the Beatles were. Here, for example, from the first show on February 9, is comedian and impressionist Frank Gorshin:
With his cheesy tuxedo and slicked-back hair, Gorshin's right out of the Borscht Belt (though he was only seven years older than Ringo and John).
Here's Georgia Brown and the cast of Oliver!--including the future Monkee Davy Jones--singing "I'll Do Anything":
Brown was also only seven years older than the oldest Beatles, but a world away in show business terms: she belonged to the tuxedoed, sequined, flowing headdress tradition of the music hall gently parodied by the Beatles at the beginning of this clip from A Hard Day's Night:
Forty-six years ago today, something genuinely new and breathtakingly modern emerged. The modern world exploded with the suddenness of a genie escaping from a bottle, never to be put back.
With his cheesy tuxedo and slicked-back hair, Gorshin's right out of the Borscht Belt (though he was only seven years older than Ringo and John).
Here's Georgia Brown and the cast of Oliver!--including the future Monkee Davy Jones--singing "I'll Do Anything":
Brown was also only seven years older than the oldest Beatles, but a world away in show business terms: she belonged to the tuxedoed, sequined, flowing headdress tradition of the music hall gently parodied by the Beatles at the beginning of this clip from A Hard Day's Night:
Forty-six years ago today, something genuinely new and breathtakingly modern emerged. The modern world exploded with the suddenness of a genie escaping from a bottle, never to be put back.
Wednesday, February 3, 2010
The Beatles Come to America
When did the Beatles first appear on television in the United States? Most would say February 9, 1964, on the Ed Sullivan Show. But that's wrong! That was their first live performance, but not their first appearance. Their first musical performance on American television came on the Jack Paar Show--in a filmed clip, during which this late-night talk show host mocked them and their British fans--on January 3, 1964:
What a difference three years make! Here are the Beatles performing "Hello Goodbye" in a filmed performance, shown on the Ed Sullivan Show in early 1967:
What a difference three years make! Here are the Beatles performing "Hello Goodbye" in a filmed performance, shown on the Ed Sullivan Show in early 1967:
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